Missouri Man Arrested In Wisconsin Brothers' Disappearance

A Missouri man has been charged in connection to the disappearance of Nick and Justin Diemel.
( Clinton County Sheriff's Office )

A Braymer, Missouri, man has been charged in connection to the disappearance of two Wisconsin brothers north of Kansas City, MO. Officials, however, have not said if they know where Nick and Justin Diemel are yet.

However, “It has changed from a missing person’s case into a death investigation,” Caldwell County Sheriff Jerry Galloway said Friday afternoon.

Garland Nelson, 25, Braymer, MO, has been charged with tampering with a motor vehicle, a first-degree felony, in Caldwell County. The charge stems from the search for the 35-year-old Nick and 24-year-old Justin Diemel. The brothers own Diemel’s Livestock together near Seymour in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area.

Court documents said that the Diemel brothers left a Quality Inn off I-35 on Sunday morning in Cameron, MO, and to an address on Catawba Road in Braymer where Nelson operates his farm.

A few hours later, the truck’s GPS information shows it leaving the farm. It’s later seen on surveillance footage in Polo, and there is no one in the passenger seat.

Just before 1 p.m. later that day, the truck pulls into a commuter lot in Holt, MO, which is where officials would later find it on Monday, empty with the keys in the ignition.

Nelson admitted to driving the truck from Catawba Road and leaving it at the commuter lot, court records say. He was booked into jail Friday afternoon and is being held without bond.

Nick Diemel’s wife, Lisa, said the brothers’ wallets and cell phones weren’t found in their vehicle when it was recovered.

Lisa Diemel said the two were checking on some of their cattle.

So far, investigators have focused their search around Nelson’s property, but they’ve also searched other areas of Clinton and Caldwell counties.

Nelson has a conviction for selling cattle that didn’t belong to him and spent two years in a federal penitentiary for that charge.

If you have any information, you’re asked to call Clinton County CrimeStoppers at 816-632-TIPS.